GameInformer- Exclusive First In-Game Screenshots Of The Last Of Us

As promised earlier today in our cover announcement story, we present three screenshots from The Last of Us.

The images below are only a taste of the over 20 great shots that appear in the March issue. Be sure to click on the screens to get a better look.

[DaveMan]

Looks alot like Cincinnati

Notice the yellow bridge in the 1st pic?

Yellow Bridge in Cinicinnati: http://farm4.staticflickr.c...

Also you see the traffic sign that say's fort and the rest of it is covered?

Well Cincinnati has Fort Wayne, Fort Lauderdale, Fort Meijer, Fort Washington

Also it has the same general look: http://365cincinnati.com/wp...

[MattyF]

They say it is Pittsburgh.

[IaMs12]

Fun Fact:
Did you know Pittsburgh has over 700 bridges?

Have distant family who lives there and a sibling who went to college there.

[BISHOP-BRASIL]

I belive they paint all bridges in Pittsburgh in that gold-yellow shade... It's one of the city's collor (along with black).

Some possible matches are...

Fort Pitt
http://photos.igougo.com/im...

Fort Duquesne
http://photographs.mccumber...

16th Street
http://farm1.static.flickr....

[Dee_91]

^reminds me of a song I heard once

[aCasualGamer]

Looks like the Cincinnati bridge.

Ontopic though, the textures on the clothing and some of the environment look really lowres. Especially the one in the garage where he is getting beaten by a man with a stick. The car looks really lowres.

But i'm not saying this is a bad thing... maybe they're gonna announce a Vita version at E3? =)

[nveenio]

I agree. That was the first thing I noticed, including inconsistent AO. I'm thinking/hoping that those textures are just placeholders while they get the high quality ones ready. Because that truck doesn't even have normal mapping. During development, there are usually a ton of unfinished things that have simple placeholders so that the other devs and testers don't have to stare at a blank mesh while working.

[jeseth]

Game looks incredible. Can't wait to see what it plays like.

I would love for it to be more of an open game...you know like The Last of Us could be what Dead Island should have been!

Go Naughty Dog!

[taylork37]

This picture is taken very close to that yellow bridge in Cincy and is very very similar to the towers you see in the screenshot.

My money is on Cincy.

The way the buildings are situated and the direction being pointed at the bridge, you would not be able to see the 2nd tower behind the 1st.

[MsclMexican]

The game revolves on the idea that you are traveling through out the apocalyptic US...

So yes, Cincinnati is probably a location where a part of the game takes place..

I really hope that this expands on the wide linear ND promised, this looks like a world I want to explore

Edit: If you look at the thumbnail screenshot carefully, you see the words FORT on a sign, with the rest of it torn away... so yes, Cincinnati is a location.

[Calvin_ISA]

Fort Pitt...

[BlindGuardian]

the trailer was already in game

[flavorbabies]

The trailer was a cinematic. These are in-game screen shots. Are you blind? I guess my question is already answered.

[Lulz_Boat]

the trailer was rendered in-game. there is confirmation of that.

[peowpeow]

Someone said it was rendered using multiple PS3's (but still inengine)? Not going to dig

[Big_Dom]

No it wasn't. And if you believe it was, then you clearly haven't a clue how in-game and pre-rendered visuals work, nor do you have an eye for it.

[PamPoovey]

I hope this game goes through seasons so you can see the change in scenary as it gets colder/warmer

[PS3Freak]

That would be cool.

[sikbeta]

*Jaw = Drops*

Game is going to be awesome!

[badz149]

as expected from ND! can't wait for the game

[Snookies12]

Lol, who would disagree that it's gorgeous? Maybe they like grey post-apocalyptic worlds? XD

[badz149]

god forbid I praise how the game looks

[TheLog]

Looks good but so does most screens of anything, gotta see em in motion and in game.

[badz149]

Dude, this is ND that we are talking about and Uncharted is easily the best looking game series on console. What's not to believe?

[TVippy]

Even more stocked now. Even though some textures are worse than PS2 ones (look at the car).

[taylork37]

If they are being that exact with the road systems...There is no I-74 in Pittsburgh, but there is one is Cincinnati.

FWIW

[princejb134]

looks amazing so far Go naughty dog=]
i hope this game is open world.
the third pic reminds me of i am legend

[MsclMexican]

Wow... this game looks amazing

Especially the lighting.... I honestly love ND's lighting....makes everything look so beautiful.

[PirateThom]

Glad they have colour in the game.

[flavorbabies]

Me too. I was afraid it was gonna be in black & white D:

[k2d]

Or shades of brown D:

[thedude44]

haha, yeah me too.

[Hovis]

Who disagrees with the above statement. Seriously?

But game looks sweet though.

[KROBOS9393939]

they're called opinions, have you heard of them?

[Hovis]

@BluePumpkin7 by above statement I meant the one about colour being in the game.

[PirateThom]

Exactly, it's not a statement you can agree or disagree with... it's a factual satement with visual evidence.

[smashcrashbash]

Mmmmmmmm. Sexy screenshots. *rubs computer screen' Daddy like. It's good to hear Ellie won't be a burden. Hoping for a improvement on Ashley. She was pretty good at getting out of the way and was moderately helpful but still was basically a hanger on and a burden. Here's hoping Ellie can hold her own against the obstacles in the game. You know, toss me a gun, stab anyone or anything trying to grapple me, forage for weapons, help gather food, bake me a pie, that sort of stuff

@ h311rais3r. Are you trying to make some sort of point or something or are you just being annoying again?

[JohnApocalypse]

Its summer time in the apocalypse

[LoLZoRz]

this could be similar to RE 4.

I wonder how the character movement will be, fast like in Uncharted games or slower like in RE 4/5 ooor something completely different.

[Ascalon94]

thats exactly what I want to know. For the style of game, Uncharted's awkward fast walking works perfectly but I think that would be a little off for this type of game

[Convas]

Wow, looks great, but ... I don't see any Ant-People?

http://youtu.be/7g9WjcGdxuM

[FrigidDARKNESS]

Looks fantastic these screenshots are awesome picking this up day one.

[Aclay]

I really like the overgrown vegetation approach with the game, it reminds me of the I Am Legend movie a lot and I kinda wish more Post Apocalyptic games went this route because usually it's tons of Grey's and Browns and not much color.

Since this game wont be Open World and it's supposed to be less linear than Uncharted, I'm really interested in seeing out how Open the areas will actually be.

[VsAssassin]

I'm thinking it will borrow the style Crysis 2 had with regard to exploration. Crysis 2 wasn't like Crysis 1 where it was completely open world. Crysis 2 gave you a map and you can explore it but still followed a linear path. I'm fine with this idea. I want more openness in this game.

[STONEY4]

Crysis 1 wasn't completely open. There were about 12 chapters/levels, and the first two-thirds had HUGE maps, but it was still a linear story and progression. Once the aliens showed up, it got really linear.

There idea for most of it was, "Here's where you need to go, here's a huge map, now get there how you want". Crysis 2 was more like a series of small sandboxes instead.

[Optical_Matrix]

I like how this isn't the typical dull grey and gritty approach to post apocalyptic settings that we see far to often in videogames. Naughty Dog, you have my full attention. Can't wait to see gameplay.

[specialguest]

As expected...pure eye candy

[JamieLeeC93]

Definitely getting this day one!

[Oldman100]

The textures on that truck could use some work but other than that this game looks incredible!

[FlareDReborn]

You do know this game isnt even close to full development yet?

...That many thumbs down for speaking a fact?...Yup thats N4G.

[GribbleGrunger]

naaa, i think is comment was fair. he did say it looked fantastic, but pointed out that the truck looked a bit low res... and it does. it almost looks placed there to be honest. is it hiding something the devs didn't want us to see perhaps?

[RememberThe357]

I have a feeling there will be some of that. No matter how skilled Naughty Dog is, the PS3 is limited and this game looks amazing.

[wolfofashes]

RememberThe357 you are correct,even though the PS3 is the most powerful console in this generation it does have it's limitations.

[BitbyDeath]

Awesome, more games need this kind of detail and colour.

[Motorola]

This game is doing something right. Other apocalypse games act like the world turns magically gray when it occurs... Looks good :D

[mynameisEvil]

I actually depends on the kind of apocalypse. If it's by nukes, yes, the world would turn very brown and gray as radiation kills vegetation.

However, an apocalypse that's occurred by way way of zombies or lethal virus would likely keep the vegetation, which is exactly what we're seeing in TLoU.

[Pintheshadows]

You win ND. You win.

[BitbyDeath]

ND don't set the bar, they are the bar.

[Hufandpuf]

I now want a PS3. And I want to play every Uncharted Game too.

[Gamer-Z]

You are really missing out on some great games.

[Why o why]

Wow, what a backlog to catch up on!

Cant wait to see some gameplay.

[TheLog]

Come on show us some gameplay and Im not buying a PS3 for an 8-10 hour sp game. Double or triple that please.

[ginsunuva]

Ahh. We can't control ellie.

[RandomDude655]

ND did say that they were inspired by Ico for Uncharted's platforming. Maybe some elements of Ico will be here too.

[gypsygib]

Looks good, it looks like Uncharted's art style

[josephayal]

PIXAR Quality

[nepdyse]

Naughty God's need to make a PC exclusive(pipe dreams).

[Ninver]

Can u say best looking open world? lol /joke

But it's shaping up real nice. My gosh and to think ND still have months to polish this already stunning game.

[Gamer-Z]

Is it open world?

[Ascalon94]

no

[BitbyDeath]

Said to be more open than Uncharted but not completely open like inFamous/Skyrim.

[BraveToaster]

There is no way in hell these are in game screenshots. There is NO aliasing at all. These were pre rendered.
inb4 200 disagrees because console players don't know what aliasing is

[BitbyDeath]

I disagreed.

Here's the definition:

In computer graphics, the jagged or saw-toothed appearance of curved or diagonal lines on a low-resolution monitor.

You should play the Uncharted games

EDIT: Some screens attached, Last of Us should end up looking better than these.

[BraveToaster]

I did. There were all sorts of jaggies. It looks really good for a console game, but it looks very different from the screenshots Naughty Dog put out before the game was released. When The Last of Us is out I'm positive it will have a ton of jaggies as well.
To the people disagreeing, a high end PC can't run a game without any aliasing at all, so what makes you think a PS3 could? God damn you people are ignorant

[BitbyDeath]

Look closer, it does have jaggies. They are just well hidden like in the Uncharted games.

First image - Car/tire
Second image - lamp post
Third image - No parking sign

[BraveToaster]

Those images are also pre rendered.
http://i40.tinypic.com/9k11...
http://i39.tinypic.com/10em...
Those are actual in game screenshots. Notice how there are no perfectly smooth edges, and there are a ton of jagged edges.
Also, you are confusing aliasing with low res textures.

[Christopher]

The thing is, BraveToaster is 100% correct.

First, if they were not pre-rendered in-game cinematic elements, they would be from the perspective of one of the characters (behind and over the shoulder). These are all from a cinematic perspective, though.

Second, the detail and and texture quality is Naughty Dog typical cinematic scene level of quality.

These graphics look to be at least on par with Uncharted 3, which is far from a bad thing. But, these are pre-rendered in-game scenes, as BraveToaster mentioned.

I will say one thing, though, BraveToaster, those two screenshots you provided of Uncharted 2 had to be either from a beta period or taken with a really bad capture device or with very poor settings. Washed out tones, generally blurred textures, just really poor quality.

[wolfofashes]

BraveToaster There is aliasing on the screens if you look close enough,and if you knew anything about console developers you would know Naughty Dog NEVER used Bullshots.But to be honest I'm quite amazed at seeing so little aliasing,maybe the problem is the size of the screenshots or ND improved their UC3 AA technique a lot.

[SnotyTheRocket]

Name 5 games on PC that look better than UC3? No BF3

[plato]

Witcher 2,

Metro 2033,

Crysis, (if you add in the mod, its not even close)

Crysis Warhead,

Crysis 2 (DX11 patch),

FarCry 2,

Bullet Storm,

Total War: Shogun 2
(there is no console game out that is rendering that amount of detail and objects on the screen in that fidelity period)

Arkham City (DX11 on the PC looks better than Uncharted 3 with Nvidia's PhysX enabled with tessallation)

Battle Field BadCompany 2 on the PC.

Run ALL these games on high levels and its not a contest.
Have you noticed in GRAPHIC awards for sites and shows they almost NEVER include PC games of late? There is a reason for this.

That's more than 5 and I could list ore. Just go play those games and you will see.
Almost all those games I mentioned also use mostly all real time lighting, effects, real time soft shadows and not pre rendered or pre calculated effects seen in 99% of console games including games like KZ2/3 and Uncharted 3.
Uncharted is IMO the best looking console game to date but it is not in the same league as the top PC games.

[SnotyTheRocket]

Well, i know when i'm beat..... I need a PC. Battlefield looks damn good on the PS3, but my brain would probably explode due to the ammount of Awesome if i had a PC that could play more than Minecraft.....

[CGI-Quality]

Just so you know, Naughty Dog doesn't do pre-rendered stuff, but like most doubters, you are obviously misinformed.

[PersonMan]

False. Uncharted 2 and Uncharted 3 used a lot of rendered cut-scenes. They were rendered from in-engine, but they usually have higher quality faces and textures. When the game is loading in the background, they play a full motion video for you. You can always tell when something is a video cut-scene or an in-game cut-scene. The quality is quite different. Naughty Dog has even said this themselves.

[wolfofashes]

PersonMan Indeed some of the cutscenes in UC games are Pre-rendered but not all.But I don't see what's your point since there are a lot of games that use pre-rendered stuff,Rage(even the PC version,most precisely the intro),Crysis 2(ALL versions),Gears of War series and so on.The merit goes for ND because they NEVER used bullshots when showing the in-game graphics of their games.There's a reason Uncharted series won so many ''best graphics'' prizes and it's certainly not because of Pre-rendered stuff.

[Legionaire2005]

Looks like Uncharted graphics in the early stages, but will be just as great as the trailer when its finished!!!

[Ryo-Hazuki]

looks good

[trenso1]

would have been great to control elie to add some more dynamic to the game. like she cant hold the heavier objects like her partner but is quicker,faster melees, and better with smaller weapons. you know to change it up from playing as one person the whole time. but the game is coming along nicely a diffident buy for me

[ExpectTheUnexpected]

I hope it's not too much to ask for but I want to see gameplay video :)

[r21]

"The developers stress that The Last of Us is not one long escort mission. Although you won't control Ellie in the game, her AI is one of the team's primary areas of focus. In our demo she always managed to keep up, yet stay out of the way. She didn't seem to need any babysitting at all."

in our demo....they've played the game? :O give us a preview please and or some gameplay :D and those screenshots, they're up to par with the trailer! sweet :)

[TheDivine]

Looks great! Reminds me of enslaved alot. The whole post apacalyptic city with lots of color and vegetation. Enslaved itself reminded me of uncharted with the colors and platforming so thats no suprise. This game might be the swan song of the ps3. Cant wait!

[TheKindRoost]

To people asking if it'll be an open world, it's a mix of both(open/linear). I think certain chapters will feature environment big enough for a level of exploration while keeping a clear path to move forward. Think of uncharted with serveral alternative route and bigger maps.

OT: games looking great, can't wait to see more.

[CGI-Quality]

Good Lord! And this is ALL pre-alpha! Remember, Naughty Dog ALWAYS wins best graphics awards with each of their releases. This will probably be no exception!

[Rivitur]

Looks good can't wait to pick it up on Xbox 360 oh did I say Xbox I ment emulate it on PC. ; )

[KrimsonKody]

I don't see why it's difficult to believe that these are in-game shots. The image where the main character is getting smashed with the stick, the graphics kind of put me in the mind of Def Jam Icon, but this looks much, much sharper.
But, just to say, that some games earlier this gen were able to produce great looking graphics. I don't see why some won't trust that it's in-game.

P.S- "open-world/linear"?
I think it may play similar to the last CastleVania, how there's always a path to lead you forward, but enough side distractions & paths to allow you to branch off & explore a little. Maybe with a few shops & doors that you can go through through & it alternates your route/story.

[admiralthrawn87]

it looks like ass. jaggies everywhere, seemingly no AA. if you've played witcher 2, crysis 2, BF3 on ultra pc...this looks like ass.

seriously look at some of those textures like the pickup truck. that pickup truck looks like a ps2 in game object.

[Silly gameAr]

Looking good. Now I'm waiting for some gameplay vids to pop up.

[admiralthrawn87]

and they didn't bother making a new character model from scratch either. looks like a few tweaks to the pre-existing drake model.

[Abdou23]

I can see this game also have that cartoonish feeling Uncharted have.

[PRHB HYBRiiD]

cartoony?? .... compare these

[Abdou23]

What i meant that this game's graphics & Uncharted are not like crysis or battlefield for example especially character models.

[Relientk77]

This game is looking fantastic so far

[TomDeFulvio1]

Everyone who is reading this!! Attention!! The photo of the yellow bridge is in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania!!!

[SSKILLZ]

its good to be a ps3 gamer

[thedude44]

true

[P_Bomb]

Lookin' good.

[SephirothX21]

I've said it so many times on this site that the PS3 is the best console this gen. I don't like fanboys of any console or of anything but for heaven's sake, with the amount of great exclusives the PS3 has and The Last of Us coming this year, how can one not want a PS3? If you haven't played the Uncharted series, you're not a gamer imo. I don't care what console you have, get a lend of of friend's PS3 and play the UC games because they're just outstanding. I like my 360 and I love Gears and Halo but no third person action game has captivated me more this gen like the masterpiece UC2. I can't describe in words the amazing experience I had with that game. The Last of Us is the game to beat in 2012. It makes me proud to have bought a PS3. Currently I am learning how to make games and making games is not easy. Studios like Naughty Dog are my role models. Only if you try to make a game, you won't understand how difficult it can be. Try create models with programs like Blender. It is not easy to make good animations and characters. Knowing how challenging it is makes me appreciate games like UC2 even more.

[SignifiedSix]

Correction. Halo 4 will be the game to beat this year ;)

[CanadianTurtle]

Wow, its gorgeous. I adore Naughty Dog because they put a lot of effort into attractive environmental designs. They sure know how to create a sense of unique atmosphere.

[Mookie]

Dope

[tarbis]

But, but .. I want to control Ellie. I hope the game will have some co-op.

[ninjahunter]

And the graphics are as expected, God didn't reign down and give us cut scene quality in game graphics but definitively above a large majority of the competition.

[Ezio2048]

man the graphics look terrific!!! O_o

[thedude44]

looks outstanding

[Hyperbomb69]

game looks great! I cant wait to see more! I want to know more about the story and those weird videos they were showing with the bugs and stuff...

[2v1]

Woah, and these are IN-GAME?! That's crazy! Naughty Dog, once again raising the bar for graphics on consoles. It's going to be mind-blowing when they do a game for the next generation of consoles.

[SwampCroc]

looks good can't wait for my Game Informer.

[videoxgamexfanboy]

this is incredible! not a single person has said anything negative about the other console! n4g is growning up! this game looks amazing. day1!

[koston3647]

..Fuck Xbox 360

i kid..

[baodeus]

I think these are in game pictures. It does looks pretty good in early stage, but saying it looks like prerender might be hyping it a bit much.

[FATAL1TY]

Last of Us: the Best looking Game of 2012

[Inzo]

You just know that some PC gamer who is crapping his pants will be throwing all sorts of specs around after seeing these screens.

[SignifiedSix]

Game looks great! Too bad its not going to get the sales it deserves. Poor naughty dog :(

[gemc666]

SHUT UP AND TAKE MY MONEY!!!!

[RedSoakedSponge]

so is this a linear experience or a sandbox game? im hoping for a sandbox game as it would be interesting to see what naughty dog can bring to the table

[dRanzer]

well ND say it's not linear like uncharted,but not open world either.

[RedSoakedSponge]

really?

i wonder how that works haha

[wolfofashes]

I do love ND a lot but if Ellie turns out to be a pain in the a** to escort,they better put an option to send her back to the kitchen.

[acemonkey]

looks like perfection so far lets see some in game gameplay

[StifflerK]

Looks great !

[Mr-Dude]

A lot of trolls here...Shame

[CGI-Quality]

@ PersonMan: Uh, I said PRE-rendered. It's a no-brainer that they render everything on the engine, but he said they pre-rendered everything, which they do not.

[SonyStyled]

it looks just like uncharted

[Emme]

Hm, that looks like left-overs from Uncharted, to be honest.
The character is very much Drake-like, even down to the hairstyle, and all in all I see nothing revolutionary in those screens.
Not interested.

[trouble_bubble]

Er, how can any screenshot look 'revolutionary'? It's just a screenshot.

Take any screenshot from any of the best games out there out of context, and voila. Suddenly BioShock Infinte just looks like a guy walking through a carnival and Ilium from Mass Effect 2 looks like Coruscant from Star Wars. What's a screenshot of Arkham City gonna tell you about the freeflow combat system?

But once you actually get to PLAY in those environments, see them in motion, then the fun begins. Too early to write off Last of Us when the only crime its committed is looking polished.

As for the haircut complaint, that's just lulz. Odds are you and I probably have the same haircut, along with 20 others in this thread. It's a men's haircut. You were expecting a perm?

[Nac]

Out to change the medium and drop the concept/label of a "Game." Okay ND, it looks great, but how does it control? Can't wait for a trailer.

[JGaLaXY815]

i live in the burgh, here's my half-ass comparison, that main big building looks like our BNY Mellon building. Can't wait for this game to drop

[MadMax]

Graphics just made yet another jump! Looks incredible, cant wait for this one!!!

[PixL]

I got shaved by the sharpness of those textures. Naughty Dog are not making business with their games. It's dev art.

[Noticeably_FAT]

ughhh..more survival horror with generic zombie/mutant/infected people......

Looks like Uncharted with Zombies......and since Uncharted has zombies for some reason...this seems unnecessary.

[BX81]

I just high fived my self for not trading in my PS3! This game is rock out with it's c@ck out!